Neal Shusterman (born November 12, 1962) is an American writer of

young-adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. He won the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for his book ''Challenger Deep'' and his novel, ''Scythe'', was a 2017 '' Michael L. Printz Honor'' book.

Early life

Shusterman was born on November 12, 1962, and raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. From a young age, Shusterman was an avid reader. At the age of 16, Shusterman and his family moved to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He finished high school there at the American School Foundation and is quoted as saying that "Having an international experience changed my life, giving me a fresh perspective on the world, and a sense of confidence I might not have otherwise." He attended the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, where he double-majored in

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

and theater, and was also on the varsity swim team.

Career

After college, Shusterman worked as an assistant at the Irvin Arthur Associates, a talent agency in Los Angeles, where

Lloyd Segan Lloyd Segan is an American film and television producer, and a principal in Piller/Segan, an independent content production company. Television production Segan made his foray into television in 2001 with '' The Dead Zone'' based on Stephen K ...

became his agent. Within a year, Shusterman had his first book deal and a screenwriting job. He lives in Florida. Shusterman has received numerous honors for his books, including the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in 2015 for his novel Challenger Deep, the

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction, and P ...

, and the 2008

California Young Reader Medal The California Young Reader Medal is a set of five annual literary awards conferred upon picture books and fiction books selected by vote of California schoolchildren from a ballot prepared by committee. The program was established in 1974 with Int ...

for '' The Schwa Was Here''. He served as a judge for the

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) annually to a writer of children's or young-adult fiction of high literary caliber "at a crucial moment in his or her career to complete a ...

in 2012. His novels ''

Downsiders ''Downsiders'' is a 1999 novel by Neal Shusterman. Plot summary

The Downsiders are a secret community of an unknown population (either native-born or "fallers" from the topside) dwelling underneath New York City. They are a proud, noble comm ...

'' and '' Full Tilt'' have each won over 20 awards. '' Unwind'' has won more than 30 awards and is in development with Universal TV as a television series. His novel ''

Scythe A scythe ( ) is an agriculture, agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It is historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely ...

'' is in development with Universal as a feature film. Shusterman has also written for TV, including the Original Disney Channel movie ''

Pixel Perfect The native resolution of an LCD, LCoS or other flat panel display refers to its single fixed resolution. As an LCD consists of a fixed raster, it cannot change resolution to match the signal being displayed, while black and white CRT monit ...

'', as well as episodes of '' Goosebumps'' and ''

Animorphs ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

''. He has written for '' R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series'' and is also adapting his novel ''Challenger Deep'' for 20th Century Fox. Fellow author

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

invited Shusterman to write novels parallel to ''

Ender's Game ''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they ...

'' about other characters from the series, but schedules didn't permit it, and Card wrote ''

Ender's Shadow ''Ender's Shadow'' (1999) is a parallel science fiction novel by the American author Orson Scott Card, taking place at the same time as the novel ''Ender's Game'' and depicting some of the same events from the point of view of Bean, a supporting ...

'' and the subsequent series himself.

Awards

*2005

. *2008

for '' The Schwa Was Here''. *2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Golden Kite Award for Fiction for ''Challenger Deep''. *2017 Micheal L. Printz Award Honour Book for "Scythe". *2019 Young Hoosier Book Award (Middle Grade) for ''

.''

Bibliography

Fiction series

The Accelerati trilogy (with
Eric Elfman Eric Elfman is an American writer with a special interest in science fiction, fantasy, UFOs, and paranormal events. He is the author of 13 books for middle-grade and young adult readers, including the ''Accelerati Trilogy'', which he co-wrote ...
)

*''Tesla's Attic'' (2014) *''Edison's Alley'' (2015) *''Hawking's Hallway'' (2016)

Antsy Bonano

*''The Schwa Was Here'' (2004) *''Antsy Does Time'' (2008) *''Ship Out of Luck'' (2013)

Arc of a Scythe

*''

'' (2016) *'' Thunderhead'' (2018) *''The Toll'' (2019) *''Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe'' (2022)

Dark Fusion

*''Dread Locks'' (2005) *''Red Rider's Hood'' (2005) *''Duckling Ugly'' (2006)

Shadow Club

*'' The Shadow Club'' (1988) *''The Shadow Club Rising'' (2002)

Skinjacker trilogy

*'' Everlost'' (2006) *'' Everwild'' (2009) *'' Everfound'' (2011)

Star Shards

*''Scorpion Shards'' (1995) *''Thief of Souls'' (1999) *''Shattered Sky'' (2002)

The Unwind dystology

*'' Unwind'' (2007) *''UnStrung'' (2012) (short story) *''UnWholly'' (2012) *''UnSouled'' (2013) *''UnDivided'' (2014) *''UnBound'' (2015) (short story collection, contains ''UnStrung'')

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

*The X-Files Young Adult Series :*3) ''Bad Sign'' (1997) riting as Easton Roycenovelization of ''The X-Files'' episode '' Syzygy'' :*10) ''Dark Matter'' (1999) riting as Easton Roycenovelization of ''The X-Files'' episode '' Soft Light'' *The X-Files Young Readers Series :*8) ''Voltage'' (1996) riting as Easton Roycenovelization of ''The X-Files'' episode '' D.P.O.'' :*9) ''E.B.E.'' (1996) co-authored with Les Martin riting as Easton Roycenovelization of ''The X-Files'' episode '' E.B.E.''

Space: Above and Beyond

*1) ''The Aliens Approach'' (1996) riting as Easton Roycenovelization of the pilot episode of the ''Space: Above and Beyond'' TV series *3) ''Mutiny'' (1996) riting as Easton Roycenovelization of the ''Space: Above and Beyond'' episode, ''Mutiny''

Novels

*''Dissidents'' (1989) *''Speeding Bullet'' (1991) *''What Daddy Did'' (1991) (later renamed ''Chasing Forgiveness'') *''The Eyes of Kid Midas'' (1992) *'' The Dark Side of Nowhere'' (1997) *''

Downsiders ''Downsiders'' is a 1999 novel by Neal Shusterman. Plot summary

The Downsiders are a secret community of an unknown population (either native-born or "fallers" from the topside) dwelling underneath New York City. They are a proud, noble comm ...

'' (1999) *'' Full Tilt'' (2004) *''Bruiser'' (2010) * *''Challenger Deep'' (2015) illustrated by Brendon Shusterman *''Dry'' (2018) co-authored with Jarrod Shusterman *''Game Changer'' (February 2021) *''Roxy'' (November 2021)

Picture books

*''Piggyback Ninja'' (1994) Illustrated by Joe Boddy

Short stories

*''Resurrection Bay'' (2013) ublished only as an ebookref>

Short story collections

*''Darkness Creeping: Tales to Trouble Your Sleep'' (1993) *''Darkness Creeping II: More Tales to Trouble Your Sleep'' (1995) *''Mindquakes: Stories to Shatter Your Brain'' (1996) *''Mindstorms: Stories to Blow Your Mind'' (1996) *''Mindtwisters: Stories To Shred Your Head'' (1997) *''Mindbenders: Stories to Warp Your Brain'' (2000) *''Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales'' (2007) *Violent Ends (2015) co-authored with 17 other authors including, Brendon Shusterman, Shaun David Hutchinson, and

Beth Revis Beth Revis is an American author of fantasy and science fiction, mainly for the young adult audience. She is best known for the ''Across the Universe'' trilogy, which consists of the novels ''Across the Universe'', ''A Million Suns'' and ''Shade ...

Games

*How to Host a Murder: Roman Ruins (1997) *How to Host a Murder: The Grapes of Frath (1997) *How to Host a Teen Mystery: Hot Times at Hollywood High (1997) *How to Host a Murder: The Good, the Bad, and the Guilty (1998) *How to Host a Murder: Tragical Mystery Tour (1999) *How to Host a Teen Mystery: Barbecue with the Vampire (1999) *How to Host a Murder: Saturday Night Cleaver (2000) *How to Host a Murder: Maiming of the Shrew (2001) *How to Host a Teen Mystery: Roswell That Ends Well (2002) *How to Host a Murder: An Affair to Dismember (2003)

Nonfiction

*''Guy Talk'' (1987) *''It's Ok to Say No to Cigarettes and Alcohol'' (1988) *''Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story'' (1989) with Cherie Currie *''Kid Heroes: True Stories of Rescuers, Survivors, and Achievers'' (1991)

Poems

*"Shadows of Doubt" (1993)

Screenwriting credits

Television

*'' Goosebumps'' (1996-1998) *''

'' (1998) *'' The Haunting Hour: The Series'' (2011)

Film

*'' Double Dragon'' (1994) *''

'' (2004)

References

External links

*
Shusterman at FacebookShusterman at TwitterShusterman at Instagram
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shusterman, Neal 1962 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American children's writers 20th-century American Jews American male novelists American male screenwriters Living people Writers from Brooklyn American writers of young adult literature National Book Award winners 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Screenwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American Jews